Dorian Gonzalez was happy to get on the field Monday for the first day of practice.<br/><br/>But the Seabreeze linebacker said he would just assume Aug. 10 — the first day of full pads and contact allowed by the FHSAA — hurry and get here.<br/><br/>“To me, football doesn't start until we put full pads on,” he said.<br/><br/>But Gonzalez, a 6-foot, 210-pound rising senior, who tallied 93 tackles last season, said his team was still excited to start the countdown to his team's Aug. 29 season opener against Spruce Creek. <br/><br/> “The juniors and seniors, we were ready to roll,” he said. “We were jumping up and down, and we were all fired up.”<br/><br/>Similar scenes were shared across the Volusia/Flagler area Monday. That included Mainland.<br/><br/>“It was great out there,” Bucs defensive back D.J. Copeland said. “Everybody was flying around and everybody was having fun.”<br/><br/>Bucs coach Scott Wilson said he thought his team's first day went “pretty good.”<br/><br/>“They were all ready to go,” he said. <br/><br/>And for both teams — like most that opened Monday — there were grand dreams of what lies ahead.<br/><br/>“(Our confidence) comes from how we work,” Copeland said. “We work the hardest so we feel like we have the right to be confident.”<br/><br/>“I feel like we are out to prove something,” Gonzalez said. “We are going to be a hard-hitting team, and we are going to turn every game into a grudge match.”